~VODOU~
by Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout
Sa Te La Daginen
My name is Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen, "Roots Without End, Who Was Already There, of Guinea", Mambo Racine for short. I am a Mambo, an initiated and ordained priestess of Haitian Vodou. I was initiated as Mambo asogwe in July 1990, in Grand Goave in the south of Haiti, by Monsieur
Luc Gedeon, Bon Houngan Jambe Malheur, "Good Houngan Step Over
Evil", honor to him! I renewed my vows in August of 1999 in an outlying district of Jacmel on Haiti's southern coast, with Monsieur Danise David, Yabofe Bon Houngan, honor to him! I am now privileged to head the Roots Without End Society, an international Vodou congregation open to all. Our house is based in the beautiful Caribbean town of Jacmel, Haiti and our membership is all over the world.
The Vodou tradition is a rich and rewarding one, and I invite you to begin your exploration! As a Mambo, I am capable of performing correct,
authentic initiation ceremonies, and I am also competent to do divination (readings), work charms, prescribe herbal baths, and assist people to construct altars, make food offerings, and other ritual activities. I am able to lead Vodou dances and ceremonies of any sort.
Farther down this page you will find:
ANSWER THE CALL TO INITIATION! Online registration for the July 2008 Kanzo, the ceremony of initiation in Vodou, is now open! Join the 2008 Kanzo of the Roots Without End Society and empower your life.
Offer Vodou sacrifice!
You can make animal sacrifice, vegetarian food offerings, or a candle illumination. At sacred Vodou ceremonies in Jacmel, Haiti, even though you can not be present physically, we will present your offering with all correct ritual, call your name before the altar, and receive messages for you from the Vodou lwa. We transmit any messages, and digital photos of your offerings, to you. For more information, click here.
A discussion group especially for Vodouisants living outside of Haiti! In this group, Vodou Across the Water, international Vodouisants share information - where to find materials, what to say at work... :-)
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The world's largest online Vodou discussion group! Moderated by Mambo Racine Sans Bout, The Vodou Forum is open to one and all. Come and join us! |
NEW! On MySpace - Vodou - Dambala's Rainbow, a new discussion forum, has been created for those who might enjoy a flame-free, positive forum in MySpace's format. |
These Vodou Lessons will teach you about Vodou, how the religion is structured, it's history, it's spiritual entities, and what it means to Vodou believers. You will learn how to begin your own Vodou practice and perform a ceremony of ancestor reverence.
These Special Topics will provide more detailed information on various aspects of Vodou service
and
on issues in the Vodou religion. Sections discuss religion and magic, the phenomenon of
possession,
the lwa, and the lineage of a Houngan. Included are issues of money and charlatanism, sexuality,
and
race. Also provided are a few Vodou jokes!
Biography of a Houngan -
a
biography of Monsieur Luc Gedeon, Bon Houngan Jambe Malheur.
Initiation in Vodou is empowering, strengthening, cleansing, and healing. It is a profoundly
mystical
journey which consecrates the initiate for life. Our congregation, or society, is the Roots Without
End
Society, and although we are based in a peristyle in the town of Jacmel in southern Haiti, our
initiates
are all over the world!
Vodou and Haitian politics have influenced each other throughout the history of Haiti. The
Haitian
Revolution against France was empowered by Vodou - and it was the only successful slave revolt
in
west of the Atlantic, resulting in the first independent black republic in the Western
Hemisphere!
Three Protestant pastors were arrested at the historical site of
Bois Caiman, Bwa Kayiman in Haitian Creole, for violating a court order banning them from the
site, in order to avoid confrontations between Protestants and Vodouisants. The pastors had
planned to "exorcise" the spirit of Haitian national hero, Houngan Boukman Dutty, from Bois
Caiman,
considered the birthplace of the Haitian Revolution. Bois Caiman was then declared a public trust by the Haitian government under President
Rene
Preval. 
As the incident reverberated through Haiti, lines were drawn. On one side were the populist,
pro-democracy organizations which were so severely persecuted under the Cedras military regime
of 1991-1994. They have regenerated since the return of then-President Aristide in October 1994,
and took the side of respect for the Vodouisant tradition. Allied with them were progressive
international human rights professionals, and Vodouisants of all political affiliations. They pointed
the finger of accusation at Protestant pastors and their right wing supporters, including the
meddlesome American organization, the International Republican Institute (IRI). Haiti Progres, a
progressive, left-of-center Haitian newspaper, has an English language
editorial.
"Antigang", by Johnson
Aristide - a poem by one
of the pro-democracy movement's most heroic activists; it uses Vodou imagery
as it makes a plea for the victims and the perpetrators of human rights
abuses.
The many African traditions which were uprooted and transplanted to the Americas grew into
many new iterations, forms of worship true to their African origins and responsive to a new and
startlingly different way of life. The modern Afro-Caribbean religions are like the many branches
of
a
great tree which itself has many roots.
Haitian Vodou and Sanpwel Links
